Who has two thumbs and loves avocaodos? This girl! And also, I'm guessing, a great many of you. But we've got nothing on Gaby Dalkin. Here is a gal who loves her avocados something fierce. We're talking breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a great many nibbles in between — her new cookbook has 80 different ways to work our favorite buttery green fruit into every meal of the day.

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If you have yet to experience the pleasure of cheese and beer together, or if you're a strict believer in pairing cheese with wine and wine alone, here's a book to open, widen, and/or convert your mindset. 

And if you're already on the beer and cheese bandwagon, there's no question that this is a book for you. 

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Whether you follow the paleo diet, you're curious about it, or, heck, you just want delicious recipes no matter what diet they happen to fit into, there are plenty of fantastic dishes here for you dive into. Michelle Tam's recipes on her blog Nom Nom Paleo are often Asian-influenced, often California-inspired, and always popping with flavor. The ones she includes in her e-cookbook are no exception.

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Polpo is the Italian word for octopus, and it's also the name of a restaurant located in London's Soho district that serves rustic, simple Venetian bar food.  I have never been (to POLPO or to Venice), but after looking through this cookbook from POLPO's owner Russell Norman, I want to hop a plane right now and visit both.  Given that we're still under the shadow of tax season here in my household, I will have to content myself with cooking from this gorgeous book, which believe me, will be no hardship.  

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Full Disclosure: I like Gwyneth. I might even be a little obsessed. She's more or less my age and, for a very brief time in the mid 90s, I was told we looked alike. I'll take it. I was first aware of Gwyneth when we were in high school (not together, of course). I was once quoted anonymously in my school paper. She was in an Esprit ad next to it.

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To capture the entire sense of a place between the covers of one cookbook is no small task. Yet, here is a photo of bobbing fishing boats that feels so close that I can practically smell the salt water. And a woman making fresh couscous that I want to scoop with my hands, and a basket of silvery fresh-caught anchovies for dinner, and spirals of yellow pasta, and...and...and. Sicily is one of those cookbooks that transports and inspires. If Sicily holds a special place in your traveler's heart, this is a book you will cherish. If visiting Sicily is dream of yours, this book might just transform your "some day" into "right now." 

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I am an immediate fan of any book that can simultaneously make me laugh and make me thirsty. Illustrated with pictures of seals sunning themselves with mint juleps in hand (in flipper?) and cats making snide remarks about your state of tipsiness, this book is bound to travel from my home bar to my coffee table and back again many times over.

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Flipping through the pages of Angel Adoree's The Vintage Tea Party Year is a bit like walking through an antique shop filled with enchanted treasures and reminders of days gone by. Add some delectable recipes, glamorous hairdos, and craft projects, and you have the makings of a memorable party — or 12 parties, to precise. Adoree has a plan for every occasion, whether it's tea for two, a wedding party, or an outdoor picnic. More

Q: My boyfriend and I are trying to bring our lunches to work more often. I was wondering if your readers can recommend lunch-specific cookbooks or cookbooks with recipes that transport well? We both have refrigerators, microwaves and toasters at our respective offices.

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As we all know, an apple a day keeps the doctor away — and now we have no excuses! This book will have us looking at apples in a whole new way as we work our way through recipes for apple hand pies, crunchy apple-filled salads, apples roasted with chicken, and applicious drinks and cocktails. Get out your paring knives and your vegetable peelers: it's about to get apple-y up in here.

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